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Synonyms
Examples of pinch hitter in a Sentence
the business owners brought in a pinch hitter until a permanent manager could be hired
Recent Examples on the Web
Last year, the league-average pinch hitter had a .660 OPS, compared to Flores’ career mark of .818.
—Evan Webeck, The Mercury News, 13 Mar. 2024
Byrd, now a sophomore, came into the game in the 8th inning as a pinch hitter and was walked and eventually replaced by a pinch runner.
—Stephanie Gallman Jordan, Southern Living, 7 Mar. 2024
Brady Kasper singled and scored on pinch hitter Dallas Macias' double.
—Matt Jones, arkansasonline.com, 24 Feb. 2024
He was limited to 85 games as a DH and pinch hitter last season.
—Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY, 18 Feb. 2024
Kelly was used mostly as a pinch hitter against right-handed pitchers.
—Paul McCardell, Baltimore Sun, 24 Jan. 2024
Heim doubled in the seventh inning and came around to score after pinch hitter Sam Huff grounded into a run-scoring fielder’s choice.
—Shawn McFarland, Dallas News, 12 May 2023
Tampa Bay completed the comeback from a five-run deficit when pinch hitter Manuel Margot and Yandy Díaz drew walks from Shintaro Fujinami to begin the eighth and moved up a base on a wild pitch.
—Mark Didtler, BostonGlobe.com, 22 July 2023
Marte came in as a pinch hitter in Wednesday’s game and drew a walk in his appearance.
—The Arizona Republic, 15 June 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pinch hitter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1896, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near pinch hitter
Cite this Entry
“Pinch hitter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pinch%20hitter. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.
Kids Definition
pinch hitter
noun1
: a baseball player sent in to bat for another especially when a hit is needed
2
: a person called upon to do another's work in an emergency
pinch-hit
verb
(ˈ)pinch-ˈhit
More from Merriam-Webster on pinch hitter
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about pinch hitter
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